A teacher with a passion for getting students outside in nature’s learning environment starts a business to do just that.

Karen came to 2nd Floor to help her establish a fun, but professional logo, branding items and website for her new business where she establishes school gardens to be used in teaching science, math, and other important components of growing and marketing crops. Her first experience came over 15 years ago as an assistant director of the Charleston Area Children’s Garden project, where vacant city lots would be converted into neighborhood community gardens. From there, she created an after school garden program that engaged at risk youth in taking ownership of managing a community garden and selling the harvest at a local farmer’s market and to participating restaurants. More recently, she was a lead teacher at a Charleston area Montessori Charter school, before setting out on her own.

Taking from her experience in digging up dirt in city area gardens, she established Cities & Shovels in 2016 in order to help schools and communities to plan, prepare, plant, grow, teach and harvest crops in outdoor learning environments.